


Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

by iprefermymealsdead



Category: Amazingphil - Fandom, Danisnotonfire - Fandom, Phan, The fantastic foursome, Youtubers, dan and phil, kickthepj
Genre: (minus chris sorry), (that's phil's secret job hint hint), M/M, The Fantastic Foursome - Freeform, also there's some side larry, and i want to write more but eeeeehh, and phil is adorable, but how do you think i'm gonna write a snowed in au with no snow, customer service au, dan is a dork, i know it doesn't really snow in england, i started this in july its november now i'm so bad at this, is there a thing for dan isn't on youtube but phil is au, snowed in au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 15:48:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5169488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iprefermymealsdead/pseuds/iprefermymealsdead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey Jenna, in a phan customer service AU, who would be the customer service employe and who would be the customer?"<br/>"Hannah, it's 2 am go to sleep."<br/>"Jenna please"<br/>"Phil would be the employee can i go to bed now"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever published and I've been working on it since July so if you have any constructive criticism or tips for me, please leave them in the comments! 
> 
> Also Jenna, my lovely editor and trusty #2, didn't finish editing BC SHE NEVER WORKS ON IT so if you notice any editor-type issues, you should let me know so I can yell at her, thanks (also when I imported the text it took out my indentations plez don't yell at me)

“How may I help you, sir?” The man behind the customer service desk asked with a slight northern accent and a polite smile. His jet black hair, cut similarly to Dan’s, and striking blue eyes contrasted sharply with his red flannel shirt. Dan was taken aback a little bit when he noticed how cute this guy was.

“Oh, I’d just like to return this shirt..” Dan stammered, the cute employee adding to his already pretty prominent social awkwardness. He could feel himself beginning to blush (why was he even blushing it’s not like him to just randomly blush like this) and hastily placed the plastic bag holding the shirt he was returning on the counter, fishing out the receipt. “Here,” he said, sliding the slip of paper to the man. As the employee scanned the receipt, Dan noticed his name tag. Phil, it read. Phil took the brightly colored shirt out of the bag and inspected it.

“Was there anything wrong with this shirt?” Phil inquired, still smiling. Dan noticed that Phil’s smile was actually genuine. He recalled how terrible he was at his previous customer service jobs, always mumbling, avoiding eye contact, and lacking the necessary enthusiasm, no matter how fake. Not Phil, though. He actually looked like he enjoyed to be stuck in this too-hot department store (which must be why Dan’s blushing), making returns and being yelled at by sports moms with bad breath.

“No, it’s just- I bought it for my ex boyfriend and…” Dan sighed, trying not to revisit the painful memories from that night. As soon as the words left his lips though, Dan realized how stupid it was. Phil obviously didn’t want to know about that. But, instead of acting annoyed at the sudden glimpse into Dan’s life story, as Dan most certainly would have if the tables were turned, Phil nodded knowingly and neatly folded the shirt.

“We’ve all been there,” he chuckled. “My last relationship went down in flames a few months ago. Boom!” Phil mimed an explosion with his hands, making them both laugh. They looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before Phil seemed to remember he was supposed to be working on a return. “Uh, do you have a card with us?”

After Dan successfully returned the shirt without making a bigger fool of himself, he turned to leave. For a second, he thought about trying to get Phil’s number, but it felt wrong to try to get into another relationship right after breaking up with Harry. They’d only been together for a few months, but Dan still felt raw from the whole ordeal. He still wanted to see Phil again, though, but it would take some serious explaining if he just showed up the next day, trying to land his number. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. It was the stupidest idea he’s ever had, if you exclude everything Dan thought of between the ages of 12-16. Before he left the store, Dan bought a random shirt from the sale rack, spending the entirety of the walk home planning exactly what he’d say when he returned it the next day.

\---

Work the next morning was worse than usual. Dan worked at a local grocery store and hated every second of it, but typically powered through by browsing through the internet when his boss wasn’t looking. Today, though, he spent every second of his shift thinking about the little plastic bag sitting in the breakroom. The second the clock signaled the end of his shift (or maybe a few minutes before), he was out of the door and on his way to the department store where Phil works. As his bus approached his stop, Dan had the brilliant idea that maybe Phil wasn’t working today. Just because Dan didn’t have the day off didn’t mean Phil doesn’t. Or maybe, his shift was at a different time than it was yesterday. What an incredibly stupid plan. _What the hell was I thinking?_ He was contemplating just taking the bus all the way back to his apartment, but he still had to return the shirt that he impulsively bought to get an excuse to see Phil again. He’d managed to list every possible error in his plan at least 3 times by the time he’d actually gotten to the store.

After awkwardly standing in front of the doors for a few minutes, pretending to check his email, he gathered enough courage to push open the thick glass. The return desk sat at the back of the store, and even though the store couldn’t be any longer than his own place of business, and god only knows how many times Dan’s paced that length, but the trip felt like it took miles. When he saw Phil standing at the return desk, looking a little anxious as he fidgeted with his Pokemon lanyard, Dan’s relief was nearly overwhelming. It was almost like he relearned how to breathe. Somehow, Dan confidently strode up to the counter (running on adrenaline and too many hours of planning), Phil looking a little shocked and amused (and maybe a little excited? Maybe?). Even as Phil stood before him, Dan was running through all the flaws in his plan, though the list was significantly shorter now that all of the problem’s relating to Phil’s not being there had been eliminated. While he’d managed to make his way to the counter without incident, Dan’s brain decided to tune out (or focus on more important things like how Phil’s lips were slightly chapped and how long his eyelashes are) and he magically forgot every word in the English language, making “uh...” the only thing he could force out. Phil snickered a bit, giving his face a bit of a mischievous appearance, but it mostly just looked adorable.

“You’re back?” Phil asked, trying to sound smug, but his eyes were lit up with happiness. He laughed, making the corners of his eyes crinkle and his smile get even wider than Dan previously thought possible. Thanks to Dan’s brain being a little, um… preoccupied, Dan managed to forget “uh…”, too. He wordlessly slid the bag across the counter, noting that the heat on his face could literally fry an egg. Phil giggled at Dan’s inability to function like a normal human. Oh my god his giggle is cuter than his smile shoot me now, he thought to himself. Harry be damned, Dan made it his personal mission to get Phil’s number. “Was there an issue with this shirt, sir?” Phil asked, still chuckling a little bit. There was something almost flirtatious in the way Phil called Dan “sir”, and it drove him crazy. Dan contemplated saying “You’re not in it,” but decided that wouldn’t go over too well, even though he was about 99% sure Phil was flirting with him. Maybe 75%. A cool 63%.  

“No, it just, uhh,” He struggled to come up with an excuse that didn’t give away the fact he hadn’t even looked at the thing. “Fit me weird?” Phil held up the material, turning a little red from holding back laughter.

“And would that be because it’s a woman’s blouse or the fact it’s from our maternity section?” Phil asked, his voice tight. It looked like he was fighting a losing battle. Dan managed to blush even harder as everything clicked.

“That would explain the weird look I got from the cashier…” He thought out loud. Phil apparently couldn’t hold it anymore and had to support himself on the counter as he howled in laughter. Dan smiled sheepishly and gave a polite wave to the concerned shopper staring at them a few feet away.

“Okay,” Phil began, wiping away tears from laughing so hard, “You bought a woman’s pregnancy blouse and didn’t even notice?” He had a hard time getting out the last bit, seeing how he was still laughing.

“To be fair, it was on the sales rack,” Dan defended quietly, still supporting a complexion similar a tomato. He probably should have looked at what he was buying before he threw it on the checkout counter, but he wasn’t really thinking straight (in every sense of the term).

“The sales rack?!” Phil heaved between bursts of laughter. Despite being horribly embarrassed, Dan began laugh as well. What could he say? Phil’s laughter was infectious, full and wholehearted, unlike Harry’s poor excuse for a laugh, it either sounded horribly fake or like an 8 year old who just heard a fart joke. Phil picked himself up after he’d managed to control his laughter and finished the return.

“Sorry for all this…” Dan began, gesturing to the now neatly folded blouse on the table.

“Don’t worry about it,” Phil trailed off, squinting at Dan as though he couldn’t quite remember something. “Oh god, I don’t even know your name!” His eyes went went wide and his hands flew to cover his mouth, as though not knowing the name of a guy he’s spent under 10 minutes total with was the worst crime imaginable.

“Dan,” he replied, giggling a little bit. Dan extended his hand across the counter. As Phil shook it, every part of his brain was screaming, except for the parts that were miming a heavenly choir and the little bit that memorized exactly how Phil’s hand fit inside Dan’s.  

“Uh, Phil,” Phil, leaning nervously against the counter, stated as he gestured to his nametag.

“Yeah, I kinda got that.” Dan replied, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, not wanting to leave this damn department store.  

“Hey…” Phil trailed off, as if he was unsure of himself.

“Yeah?” Dan knew that he was grasping at straws, but he was really hoping that Phil was trying to ask him something.

“My shift actually ended a couple of minutes ago…” Phil blushed, as though he was ashamed to admit it. “Do you want to grab a coffee?” Dan could feel his soul go to heaven, leaving him as an empty husk. “I mean, I understand if you don’t want to! You just got out of a relationship and all, you probably don’t even-” Phil stammered as Dan struggled to remember how to speak.

“I’d love to!” Dan finally managed to get out. Phil jumped a little bit (like, literally jumped, god he was so adorable), his entire face lit up and his smile wide.

“Great! Give me a couple minutes, I’ll meet you out front!” With that, he ran through a door behind the customer service desk, his lanyard already off. Dan chuckled a bit to himself as he watched the door Phil had practically barreled into swing for a bit. He didn’t quite know what had just happened, but he really didn’t care.

\---

Dan began to walk to the front of the store in a fuzzy haze, but was stopped before he made it past Juniors.

“So you’re Phil’s mystery man, huh?” A strange guy asked with a smooth and surprisingly deep voice. He was folding jeans while leaning against a display of nearly identical shirts. The effect shouldn’t have been too intimidating, he was just a little shorter than Dan, which was pretty tall, but kind of looked like a young kid with his wildly curly brown hair and brightly colored jumper. He had an air of mystery about him though, and there was something in the way he stood that told Dan not to mess with him. After making sure there was no one else around that this dude could directed his comment to, Dan took a step towards him.

“Maybe?” Dan tried cautiously, unsure of what the guy meant by “mystery man”. His nametag read PJ and there were all sorts of doodles of what appeared to be a cartoonish (and more friendly) version of him and a penguin surrounding it.

“You’re the man that returned his ex’s t shirt yesterday, right?” PJ asked, putting down his denim pile. His hands were slightly stained with marker around the tips and sides of his fingers. Where his style said 5-year-old, his physical appearance said serial killer/interrogation officer.

“Yeah, my name’s Dan.” he replied, extending his hand. PJ came up close to him, looking him up and down with piercing pale green eyes, making Dan feel rather uncomfortable (what was with the guys in this store and their eyes?). He guessed that PJ liked what he saw because instead of taking Dan’s hand, he clapped him on the shoulder.

“I just wanted to tell you how happy you just made Phil. You see, Phil had a pretty bad breakup a few months ago, and he hasn’t really been the same since.” he informed Dan. “When he told me about this customer he had yesterday, I was really happy to see that he was starting to get over it, but I knew how unlikely it was that he’d ever see you again.” PJ leaned closer and looked straight into Dan’s eyes with an expression somewhere between “we’re going to be good friends” and “I’ll fucking kill you”. Dan swore PJ was staring straight into his soul. “He’s a good person who deserves to be happy. Don’t hurt him.” PJ leaned back and smiled at Dan, patting his shoulder again. He more closely resembled his doodle now, with a small smile and warmer eyes. “Nice talking to you.” With that, PJ turned and walked deeper the junior’s clothing section towards a confused looking older man. Dan stared at him in amazement until Phil ran up behind him.

“You ready to go?” He asked Dan, still smiling wide. Dan could swear he could hear panting in Phil’s voice, like he’d run the entire way to the break room and back.  

“Yeah, sorry,” Dan was still looking at PJ, trying to get a grip on his personality. He was now helping the confused man choose between two equally ugly polo shirts. Phil laughed when he noticed.

“Did you meet PJ?” he asked. All Dan could do was nod. “He didn’t try to scare you, did he?”

“Honestly? I can’t really tell.”

“That’s Peej for you. Don’t worry about him, his bark is bigger than his bite,” Phil looked over to where PJ had moved on to some other customer and waved. PJ laughed and waved back. “Are you ready to go? I was thinking we could just go to the Starbucks down the road, if that’s cool with you? I know it’s not too coffee shop romantic, but it’s still coffee.”

“Yeah, of course.” They left the store (without meeting any other murderous and/or friendly coworkers) and headed toward the store, hands occasionally brushing.

\---

“So,” Phil began as they walzed down the sidewalk crowded with shoppers. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” Dan sighed. He didn’t like to admit his own mediocrity, especially when he was around someone as amazing as Phil.

“Oh, come on, I know that’s not true.” Phil said, jamming his hands in his pockets to keep them warm in the December cold. It was an unusually chilly day for England [but mid/early spring for the rest of the world, come on England, grow a pair] and what should have been a typical London shower had turned into a rare snowfall, causing Phil’s hair to be adorned with white flakes. Dan resisted the urge to brush them off, even though Phil looked like some sort of forest nymph.

“Hi, I’m Daniel Howell, a 24 year old college dropout that earns minimum wage. See, not much to tell.” Phil laughed and slowed his pace.

“Well, when you say it like that, I’m just Philip Lester, a 28 year old with an arts degree and a dead end job returning maternity clothes.” They both laughed, and Dan felt himself beginning to blush again. “It’s the little things about a person that make up the big picture.” Dan looked down at the sidewalk, trying to come up with something clever to say, but failed miserably. “You didn’t miss anything,” Phil said after a while.

“What do you mean?”

“In college. You didn’t miss anything in college. It was all papers and all nighters, the parties were for drunk frat boys.” Dan laughed and playfully bumped into Phil. Phil responded in kind. By the time they reached Starbucks, most people that saw them stumbling down the street probably thought they were drunk.

\---

“Welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?” The barista working the register asked  Phil in a monotone voice once they made it to the front of the line. Phil, in his infinite happiness, was undeterred by their negativity.

“Yeah, can I get a tall vanilla latte?” he said without a moment’s hesitation. Dan envied Phil’s ability to have basic conversations with people without making a complete fool of himself.

“Sure, and who is this for?” they asked, scribbling on the paper cup they’d just grabbed.

“Phil,”

“Ok, and are you two together?” They inquired, pointing to Dan.

“No-” Dan started.

“Yeah,” Phil interrupted. He looked back at Dan. “What are you getting?”

“Oh, you don’t have to-” Dan was interrupted by an annoyed grunt from the business-looking man standing behind him. “Uh, tall toffee and almond hot chocolate please.” He said to the barista. They nodded, scribbling on a different cup.

“For?” They asked.

“Oh, um, Dan,”

“Alright, then. That’ll be $7.69.” Phil paid for the drinks and they walked over to the pick-up area.

“You didn’t have to pay for my drink,” Dan said while they waited to hear their names.

“What kind of date would I be if I didn’t pay?” Phil laughed. “I just can’t believe you ordered hot chocolate!”

“At least it’s festive. Yours is boring.” Dan retaliated. They both laughed, but paused as a barista brought over two drinks.

“A toffee almond hot chocolate for Dan and a vanilla latte for Dil.” The barista called as they turned back to the work station. Dan and Phil looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.

“Dil?!” Dan laughed as he picked up his drink. Phil picked up his and laughed at the name on the cup.

“That’s certainly a first…” he marveled as he took a sip of his coffee. Phil made a sour face and opened the lid to his latte. “I swear, they never add enough sugar!” He exclaimed, heading over to where the shady sugar container stood. “I’ll be right back, can you find us somewhere to sit?”

“Yeah,” Dan replied as he sipped his own hot chocolate. It tasted perfect, covering his mouth in rich, chocolatey bliss. It wasn’t the healthiest option on the menu, but it was just what he needed. Dan scanned the tables, looking for a surface that wasn’t disgusting or already occupied. As he reached the taller tables against the walls, his heart stopped beating. Sitting in one of the chairs, a young man with curly brown hair was sipping a coffee and chatting to another young man sitting across from him. Dan recognized them both. The world spun as Phil walked up behind him.

“You ok?” Phil asked, concern in his voice.

“We can’t stay here…” Dan said, his voice shaking.

“Why?” Phil’s voice was worried and soft.

“I-” Dan froze as Harry noticed him standing there. Harry said something to the man Dan recognized as the man he had caught Harry cheating on him with and began to walk over to where Dan and Phil stood. Dan looked at Phil with a panicked expression. “We need to go,” he turned to leave, grabbing Phil’s free hand like it was his only lifeline (which, at this point, it kind of was), and walked back out to the frozen street. Dan led them both to a nearby bench and sat down, placing his head in his hands, trying to stop the panic attack he was in the middle of. Nothing says romantic like hyperventilating on a public bench in the freezing cold.  

“Dan, what’s wrong?” Phil asked gently, putting an arm around Dan’s shaking shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” Dan started, voice wobbly and high. He glanced back at the coffee shop’s door to see if Harry had followed them outside. He hadn’t.

“Was that your ex?” Phil inquired.

“Yeah, he was with the guy he was cheating on me with.” Dan said coldly, having regained enough control to sit up, and took a sip of his hot chocolate. There’s nothing like 3,000 calories to calm the nerves.

“Oh, wow…” Phil replied, a look of shock on his face. He leaned back against the bench and took a deep drag from his coffee.  

“Yeah,” Dan leaned into Phil, who began rubbing Dan’s arm. They stayed like that for a while, sipping their drinks and listening to each other breathe. Dan imagined this is what bear dens are like. Curling into one another, using each other for heat and support. He never wanted to move.

“Hey,” Phil said after they’d both finished their drinks. “My flat’s nearby, and since coffee kind of fell through, um, do you want to come over for dinner, or something?" The snow had picked up a bit and Dan wanted more than anything to spend more time with Phil, especially if that involved getting away from the Starbucks behind them, which Harry hadn’t left yet.

“Yeah, ok,” Dan replied, trying not to sound like an overexcited six year old girl at the idea of seeing Phil’s flat. Phil stood up (Dan immediately felt super cold without Phil’s body heat), brushing off the snow that had fallen on his black skinny jeans, and offered a hand to Dan. He took it and Phil led him through the thick crowds comprised mostly of Christmas shoppers. They stopped in front of a large, modern-looking apartment building, which Phil proudly introduced as his place of residence. A few minutes later, they were in Phil’s apartment, a small, one bedroom flat with a well furnished entertainment center and modern kitchen in the main area. There were a couple doors on the far walls as well as one near the front door and a hallway next to the magnet-covered fridge. Plushies and bright throw pillows were displayed on the leather couch and fairy lights had been hung on the walls, giving the whole place a warm glow.

“Home sweet home!” Phil exclaimed as he gave Dan a quick tour of the flat. Despite it’s small size, the apartment was surprisingly nice for someone who works part time at a department store, and Dan began to wonder about what kind of high-paying side jobs Phil might have. Dan was never much of an Orange is the New Black fan, but he really hoped he wasn’t about to get into some sort of Piper/Alex relationship. Phil finished off the tour by leading Dan back to the main space and finally began to settle in.

“Nice Totoro,” Dan remarked upon seeing the large, familiar plushie on Phil’s kitchen counter. Phil laughed as he shrugged off his jacket.

“He was a big part of my childhood,” he explained, Phil’s grin still plastered across his face. Dan reminisced on his many years spent watching Studio Ghibli movies in his childhood home, paving the way for his current anime obsession. Phil threw his jacket over the back of a kitchen chair and plugged an iPod into a nearby stereo.  “Do you like Muse?” he asked, unlocking the device.

“Dude, they’re one of my favorite bands!” Dan exclaimed happily.

“Mine too!” They both laughed and Muse’s Exogenesis Part 3 began to play from the stereo. Humming along to it, Dan sat down at the kitchen table. It was such a relief to find someone who was into the same music as Dan. Harry was an aspiring musician, but his music wasn’t really Dan’s style and he insisted on always listening to these indie records, which were mostly animal calls over a bad banjo track.

“This may seem weird…” Phil started, leaning against the counter. Dan couldn’t help but notice how Phil’s t shirt trailed up a little bit, exposing a bit of skin. You know those China dolls with the porcelain skin? Phil’s skin looked just like it, but warm and soft (and Dan just kind of wanted to stare at it all day and maybe touch it a little).

“W-what?” Dan stammered, pulling himself out of his (probably creepy) thoughts after he remembered that words were a thing that normal people use to communicate.

“Well,” Phil’s arm reached up to scratch the back of his head, exposing even more skin (and oh my god Dan was pretty sure he was doing it on purpose). “I’m really not a good chef... Is it cool if we just have pancakes?” He giggled a little bit.

“Pancakes for dinner? Sign me the fuck up.” Dan replied, giving a thumbs up. Phil gasped, covering his gaping mouth with his hands, blushing.

“Dan!” Phil cried in a mixture of disbelief and accusation. “That’s a bad word!”

“Are you ten?” Phil whined a muttered something about how bad words are bad words for a reason before turning his back to Dan to look for ingredients.

“Are you thirsty?” Phil asked once he regained his composure. He pulled a skillet out of a low cupboard.

“Uh, yeah, a glass of water would be great, thanks,” Dan replied, still thinking about how the small of Phil’s back was exposed when he bent down to retrieve the skillet. At this point, Dan couldn’t tell if he wanted Phil to get on a larger shirt or to just rip off the stupid thing all together. Phil gave Dan a glass of water and got to work on gathering ingredients for “dinner”.

“So,” Phil began, cracking two eggs into the mixture of flour and water he had already prepared in a bowl . “What are you into?” Dan choked on his water, and immediately sprayed the table with a mixture of water and his spit. Phil dropped his mixing spoon as he spun around to his choking date. “Dan! Are you ok?!” Phil cried, sprinting over to help Dan as he coughed up the remainder of his drink.

“What?!” Dan choked in shock as soon as he could use his voice again. From what Dan knew of Phil, he seemed like a pretty innocent guy. Either way, first dates are hardly the time to ask about kinks, right?

“What are you into? Like, hobbies, music, TV shows?” Phil cried somewhat desperately. Oh. Of course that’s what he meant. Dan felt like slapping himself.

“Oh my god,” Dan started laughing.

“Wha- OH MY GOD THAT MUST HAVE SOUNDED SO WRONG I AM SO SORRY-” Phil stammered, blushing profusely (that man shouldn’t be allowed to blush he looks too hot when he blushes it isn’t fair).

“No, no, this is my fault, I always take things the wrong way!” Dan laughed. “For the record though, I like handcuffs, blindfolds, and I personally don’t think it counts as real sex unless someone has to use the safeword.” Phil’s eyes widened to anime-protagonist size and all  color in his face totally vanished (damn, Dan really liked Phil’s blush).

“I-I-um…” He stammered, taking a step back.

“Relax dude, I’m joking. Heads up, I’ve got kind of a dark sense of humor...” Dan said quickly, worried he’d crossed a line. Phil looked relieved, and he smiled widely again.

“Thank god, you said that in such a monotone voice, I couldn’t tell if you were joking,” He said, picking up the fallen spoon and using a paper towel to clean up some batter that had splattered on the floor.

“Yeah…” Dan chuckled nervously, examining the water that had splashed all over his jumper. “Most people can’t…” Once, back in secondary school, Dan had joked that he was “off to snort crack” and was suspended for 2 weeks. To be fair, that probably wasn’t the most appropriate joke he could’ve said at the time, and he said it to a group of kids who already thought he was on something. Dan looked back up to his date. Phil was pouring the finished batter into a pan on the stove now, a look of concentration on his face as he focused on not dumping the whole batch onto the counter. “You seem to take your pancakes quite seriously, Phil,” Dan joked, getting up from the table to lean against the counter next to where Phil was carefully monitoring the progress of the pancake as it sizzled on the stove.

“Well, this is Delia Smith’s recipe,” Phil tossed his hair (or at least, what he could) and gave Dan a lopsided grin. Phil was 6’ 3” of cuteness and Dan was pretty sure he might implode (but wouldn’t dare risking the pancakes).

“Delia Smith is my one true reason for living,” he joked, recalling his mother’s stack of Delia Smith cook books that Dan borrowed when he moved out (and may still have).

“I know, right?” Phil widened his stance and suddenly flipped the pancake in the air, having it land with a satisfying fwunk back on the pan.

“Dude!” Dan almost screamed in amazement. He recalled the time that he’d tried to pull a similar stunt a few months ago. He’d ended up throwing the pancake on Louise and having to buy her dinner to pay her back for all her “emotional trauma” - well, emotional trauma and totally ruined blouse. After Phil repeated the trick with the rest of the pancakes, they both sat down at the table and began to eat.

“How do you like it?” Phil asked, mouth slightly full of pancake. Even though the table was quite large, he’d elected to sit in the chair next to Dan and the fact that Phil’s knee was leaning against Dan’s thigh hadn’t gone unnoticed to him.

“These are amazing, Phil,” Dan shoved another forkful of the light pancake into his mouth. Phil smiled widely in response and gently bumped into Dan’s shoulder. Dan responded in kind, or at least he tried. What he actually did was miss Phil completely and ended up landing in Phil's lap, mouth full of pancake. Phil burst out laughing as Dan tried very hard to get up without taking Phil down with him, or worse, groping Phil in the process.

“Wow, Dan,” he barely managed to get the words out between fits of laughter. “I know I’m attractive, but can’t this wait until after dinner?”

“Shut up,” Dan grunted as he finally managed to right himself. He felt a slight vibration in his jeans and took out his phone. His home screen displayed an email from his boss. “Hold up, Phil, my boss just emailed me…” he unlocked the phone and began reading, Phil craning his neck to try to read the contents. Dan sighed and began reading aloud. “Due to the severe weather advisories and what has already occurred outside, we will only be open from 12pm through 4pm. Employees who do not have shifts during this time frame will not be required to come into work, we apologize if this inconveniences anyone, some bullshit about not wanting to ‘endanger their workers’, blah blah blah, Love, the Frankie's family.” he looked up at Phil, who was practically on top of Dan, he was leaning over him so far.

“Severe weather advisories?” Phil sat back up walked out to a window that had been covered with a large curtain. He pulled it back and audibly gasped. Dan came up behind him and stared down at the street below his flat with utter shock. The entire street was covered in snow and more was falling in thick, heavy flakes.

“And people say the earth is getting hotter,” Dan sighed into the window, his breath fogging up the glass. He placed his hand up to the fog, feeling it’s cold sting against his open palm. Phil raised his hand and placed it over Dan’s, stretching his fingers so they fit in the spaces Dan’s hand left open. He quickly pulled back though (much to Dan’s dismay) and sat back down at the kitchen table. “Uh, listen…” Dan trailed off, trying to find a way to word what he wanted to say. The snow was pretty bad and the roads were probably icey so it made sense for Dan to ask to stay the night with Phil, but how exactly do you ask that sort of question on a first date?

“It’s pretty bad outside, huh?” Phil twisted his hands, as though he didn’t know what to say.

“It’s gonna be a pain getting home…” At this point, Dan was pretty sure he was going to have to walk to whole way home simply because he couldn’t work up the nerve to ask Phil to lend him his couch.

“Unless- I dunno, maybe you wanted to…” Phil was blushing pretty hard and practically contorting his poor fingers.

“Could I stay the night?” Dan finally blurted out. Phil broke out into a huge grin.

“Absolutely!”

\---

Dan buried himself deeper into Phil’s side as they sat, curled inward on the couch. Phil had dragged out his duvet and it covered them as they sipped hot cocoa on his couch, My Neighbor Totoro playing on the TV. With the fairy lights illuminating the room, the whole place felt warm and fuzzy, like your favorite pillow fort as a kid, but a million times better because there was Phil. Dan had seen this movie a million times, but he didn’t care, and he loved to see how Phil would occasionally mouth the lines to the more iconic scenes. Actually, he watched Phil more than he watched the movie. After Phil agreed to let Dan stay the night, Phil insisted on lending him something to sleep in, which is why Dan was currently wearing one of Phil’s larger shirts and a pair of sweatpants that felt like he had wrapped his legs in the furriest kittens imaginable. Phil was dressed in something similar and thanks to their entangled limbs, it’d be a difficult challenge to try and tell whose limbs were whose. Dan felt himself starting to nod off, but he didn’t want to fall asleep on Phil (actually, that’s exactly what he wanted to do, but that wasn’t exactly to most polite thing to do). Despite his best efforts however, it only took a few minutes until Dan was out cold, face, legs, and arms buried in Phil’s warmth.

\---

“Dan?” Phil asked, almost drunkenly as he shifted on the couch. Dan groaned a bit and tried to roll over. Instead of being greeted with the remaining area of a bed, however, he plummeted right off the couch with a graceful “AHH”, followed by a thump that would probably earn a complaint from the tenants downstairs. _What the hell?_  he asked himself as he stared up at the ceiling. This wasn’t his shitty apartment, this was-

Phil.

Shit, he’d totally fallen asleep on him. Dan mentally slapped himself as he sat up. First dates shouldn’t end up passed out on the guy. Oh god, what if Phil hadn’t wanted to annoy Dan and he was forced to spent the whole night in a terrible position because he was too nice to shove Dan off of him. Great, Phil probably hated him. What if Dan had talked in his sleep? Or did something super embarrassing? What if-

“Dan! Oh god!” Phil laughed as he looked over the edge of the couch. Dan’s heart almost quit (at the very least, it definitely skipped a beat). Phil’s hair had managed to stick straight up in the night, created some sort of sleep quiff, which made him look even more adorable than he already was.

“I am so sorry,” Dan started, blushing a bit. He’d managed to bring most of the blanket down on the floor with him and he began twisting the edge nervously. “You probably have a sore neck or something, that was so stupid of me…” Phil looked at him with a puzzled expression for a bit before he began laughing again (every time Phil laughs, a piece of Dan’s soul dies).

“I fell asleep way before you did, silly! Didn’t you notice? I thought you’d eventually just go to my room,” Dan noticed that when Phil smiles, every part of him smiles, too. His eyes light up, his head tilts slightly, he just radiates happiness. Dan used to despise people like Phil, always smiling, always taking an optimistic approach to life. He used to wonder why those people couldn’t grasp that life sucked and maybe it’s easier to just put your earbuds on and become dead to the world. But, with Phil? Well, Dan liked it. He just made Dan feel… good.

“I just fell asleep on top of you, sorry…”

“You say sorry too much,” With that, Phil leaned in and kissed Dan. It wasn’t anything terribly romantic, just a few brief seconds of Phil and then he was gone, off in the general direction of his bedroom, but Dan felt as though something in his chest had caught fire and he didn’t want anyone to put it out.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I want to write more, but I dunno if anyone would read it, so if you'd be interested, leave kudos and maybe I'll post a part 2?


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